This year, al.com is introducing a brand new feature we're calling The A-List,
a list of the state's Top 15 senior football players. We'll reveal one
new member of the A-List each day leading up to the start of the season
on August 31st.

BIRMINGHAM -- Player evaluation is swift these days.

Watch a kid for a few reps, a series or a quarter or two. Maybe even a full game. Then evaluate. Compare. Rank among the stars. It happens even faster than that at prospect camps. It's the new normal.

That's just not enough time to appropriately gauge Auburn University football commitment Earnest Robinson. Pinson Valley's receiver shows up at No. 13 on al.com's A-list of the state's top senior prospects. If that list were based solely on potential, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder is showing up about 10 slots too early.

Why No. 13? The range of opinions on Robinson fits somewhere between two words -- "inconsistent" and "incredible."

Inconsistent? That's a fair place to start.

There are practice days when he cramps up, because he might have skipped breakfast that morning. He has days that make his coaches wonder if they're putting up with a 6-year-old. There always seems to be something with Robinson, either on or off the field.

"I sometimes used to slack off," he acknowledged. "You could tell I wasn't getting the ball by how I got off the line or not blocking on a play. That's not me now. I've learned I can be a lot better than that. I'm not trying to get the big head out there, but at times I could be a little lazy."

Robinson caught only 30 passes amid a deep group of Pinson Valley receivers last season. He battled a high-ankle sprain that caused him to miss time and then take the field at about 70 percent effectiveness. He played just six full games, but turned 12 of those 30 catches into touchdowns.

He shows out in big games. He caught three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a playoff loss to Hartselle in 2010. He caught two more playoff touchdowns in a 22-21, last-second loss last year to a Hartselle team that won the 5A championship.

Incredible? His best days - such as the Rivals.com 5-star camp this summer - carry his name into the discussion as the nation's top prep receiver.

He's caught 55 passes since 2010, and reached the end zone on 40 percent of those receptions.

What numbers could he put up if he played at his peak every down? What's his SEC future? Those are fascinating topics, but the best way to conceive where he's going is to understand exactly where he's been.

Childhood lessons

Robinson never had an Xbox or PlayStation for Christmas. Or a bicycle or train set to bookmark a specific December. He cannot recall one Christmas gift that stands out. His strongest holiday memory is when his grandmother Shirley Carrington passed away on Christmas Eve. He was just seven years old.

Robinson said his family's means were limited, and that he grew up among negative influences in his community.

"I wasn't a kid that played with toys much," Robinson said. "But I knew everything in the streets. My daddy lived through it. I've seen it. Watched it. We used to live in the old projects. I know everything about cocaine, marijuana, drugs, chemicals and meth and stuff."

He won't turn 18 until next February, but carries an understanding of how his upbringing shaped him.

"I don't mess with any of that stuff," he said. "I don't want to be around that stuff. That's not the direction I'm heading in. I think my past helps me as a warning. I've got real examples to avoid. I know that life. I want to stay away from that life."

Robinson can point to brothers who were accomplished football players, too. They had college tries. One was derailed by a fight that ended up with a pool stick in an eye. The wrong crowd and poor choices tackled another one.

Carlos Gray, another friend, was a senior at Pinson Valley in 2009. He was 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds with that rare athleticism on the defensive line that makes scouts drool. But he also did not have enough A's and B's on his transcript.

Gray is now a redshirt freshman defensive lineman at North Carolina State, but first had to take a junior college detour. When Robinson made a 14 on his first crack at the ACT, Gray's path motivated him to do better. When he took it the second time, he scored a 19.

"I don't want to be that 'should've been this or that' guy walking the street," he said. "I don't want to blow this. I've got crackheads in my family. I do. I'm trying to change my future and help my family out one day."

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Wearing out shoes

Robinson's life is piled with details that fit like mismatched socks. He avoids all meat aside from chicken because he doesn't like the way ribs or a steak smell.

He fits into a size-15 cleat, but those are hard to find and expensive. So he slides into any spare size-13 versions he can find. The torque he puts on those is immense. He can go through a pair in a week. Think those who point to his injury history know that? The forces he summons going in and out of his route breaks can destroy new cleats. Is it any wonder his ankles suffer, too?

There wasn't always a ball to play with growing up, so the kids in the neighborhood played catch with bricks. Robinson was the slow quarterback then, not the explosive receiver.

A childhood house fire is regarded as a positive.

"My house got burned down in the projects," he recalled. "If it hadn't, I wouldn't be at Pinson Valley today."

That change is important to Robinson because of the role the Pinson Valley coaching staff has played in his development. He considers coach Matt Glover to be a mentor and a father figure. Glover and the Pinson Valley staff saw his talent and ended the position moves that floated him from quarterback to cornerback to safety to tight end.

There's warmth to his personality. He's known to hug on the lunchroom ladies at school more than every pretty girl in the hallway.

"What Earnest is more than anything else is a pleaser," Glover said. "He's that type of person that wants to see everyone else happy."

God's gift

If Robinson is visiting the Auburn campus, the most likely place to find him is with offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler's kids. The blue-chip wide receiver with four tattoos plays nanny. But judge him by those tattoos and that's another hasty evaluation.

"My momma raised me right," said Robinson, whose parents are divorced but whose father remains in his life. "She did not raise me to be a thug. I've been raised around thugs but my momma raised me to be kind to everybody, not just the people who can help you. I was raised to say 'yes, sir' and 'yes, ma'am' every chance I can."

The first tattoo is for a niece, Akiya. His mother, Ramona, treated Akiya as if she were her own, but Akiya passed away when she was three due to what the family believes was swine flu.

Another tattoo is for Carrington. The grandmother he lost on Christmas Eve has an "R.I.P Grandma" memorial that's always close to his heart.

"That's who I play for," Robinson said. "I play for Akiya and for my grandmother. When my niece died I thought I didn't have anything else in my life. It was like losing my grandmother again."

Pinson High School holds first day of football practice, August 6, 2012. WR Earnest Robinson catches a pass during practice. (The Birmingham News Photo Linda Stelter)

Robinson has another grandmother. She's 99 years old.

"She is real special," he said. "I try to go see her every day to spend time with her before she passes on, too."

There's one more tattoo. The one on his chest is a football. It's tagged with a "God's Gift" script.

"I can look at what God has not blessed me with," Robinson said. "Or I can look at what he did give me. God blessed me with football. If it wasn't for football, I don't know what I would be right now. It's my anchor. If not for football...."

Robinson could not finish that sentence.

Football has branded him, too. There was that catch against Clay-Chalkville in the 2011 spring game that no one will forget. He angled and elevated above the crossbar to snare the ball with one hand. The feat was so special that it really didn't matter that officials said he didn't have his entire foot in bounds.

When former University of Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain saw that catch on film, he compared it to something former Crimson Tide great Julio Jones would do.

When former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzhan saw it, he found a unique way to describe it. He told Glover there were hardly any SEC players who could make that catch, much less any rising high school juniors.

That level of praise adds to the excitement, but also to the expectations.

"This has to be about business for me right now," Robinson said. "I want to play well and make it for my momma too. She's raised me right and has been on me hard. She's my role model, too. We are close. But there's pressure here I hope to be able to deal with. I don't want to make any mistakes. I've got my whole family behind me that all wants me to make it. It feels like the whole town is behind me to make it, too."

Stay tuned to al.com tomorrow as we reveal the No. 12 player on the A-List.